Friday, February 28, 2014

Thanks to my cousin Deborah for sending me the following account written by our mutual uncle who served the 25th Virginia Infantry, Company C of the Army of Northern Virginia during the War for Southern Independence. His name was James Buchanan McLaughlin.

As I blogged earlier, he and his brother both served in the same company and were both POWs. James's brother Richard died in the notorious Point Lookout POW camp, while James would not only survive the Point, but was also sent to the horrific Elmira prison camp, where he also survived.

Here is the brief biography of J. B. McLaughlin:

He was born April 1, 1843 in Rock Camp, Braxton County, Virginia.

He enlisted in Company C of the 9th Virginia Battalion (later, the 2nd Company C of the 25th Virginia Infantry at Sutton, VA, now WV) on May 18, 1861. He was captured (along with his brother Richard, see below) at the Wilderness (May 15, 1864), sent to Belle Plain, then to Point Lookout POW Camp, May 17, 1864. After the death of his brother as a POW at Point Lookout, James was sent to the notorious POW camp at Elmira on August 10, 1864 (which had a 24% death rate among the more than 12,000 POWs who were held there). He survived ten months at Elmira, and was released at the end of the war, June 23, 1865.

On December 13, 1868, James married Elizabeth Mary Fox (1848-1927). They lived in Glendon, WV and had ten children. James died on July 4, 1940 (at the age of 97) in Glendon, and he and his wife were both buried in the so-called James B. McLaughlin cemetery near Glendon - which I have as of yet not been able to find even with the detailed county map.

But now, some thirty years after first learning about my great-great-great-granduncle, we now have his own recollections of the war.

Papers of J. B. McLaughlin

ca. 1865

Company C, 25th Virginia Volunteer Infantry, C.S.A.

Captain - P. B. Duffy

1st Lieutenant - J. M. Boggs

2nd Lieutenant - E. D. Camden

3rd Lieutenant - J. M. McCorkle

1st Sergeant - W. T. Lawrence

We left Sutton in May went to Flatwoods and camped there about two weeks. The first night after leaving Flatwoods, we camped on the farm of Ira Cutlip on Holly River. Camped the next night at Hacker's Valley. Was there two days over. Next camp was on Buchannon farm at Mingo Flats. Camped on Valley River at Elk Water. Next day went to Beverly where we camped about two weeks. Moved down Tygart's Valley to the Round Barn where Elkins is located now. Camped near where the Court House now stands. Moved back up a few miles. When the Confederates were driven from Locust Hill, we crossed the mountain to the back fork of Cheat River. Went down the river to where Parsons is now located. Went down a creek the name of which I think was Horse Shoe. From that time I do not know where was (sic) until we reached Monterey. Went up one branch of the Potomac River to Monterey in Highland County Virginia.

Traveled day and night for about eighty days. Never ate any bread all this time. Got a little beef at times, about three times, I believe. And when we got to Monterey, they gave us one big round hardtack as hard as a stone. There we drew some clothing and a blanket and a big heavy overcoat. As much as a man could carry when wet, and to have to toat (sic) this garment in July and August was enough to make a man say bad words.

Left Monterey by way of Staunton and Parkersburg Pike. Our first camp was Laurel Fork, a branch of the Potomac. We next camped on the top of the Allegheny Mountain. Moved from there to Camp Bartow on the Greenbriar River, where Durbin is now located. We camped here the balance of the summer of 1861.

Was on one scouting party that went to the top of Cheat Mountain but did not accomplish anything. The Union troop from Cheat Mountain paid us one visit during the summer and drove in our picket. Got up in range with their artillery and opened fire. This was my first time under fire of artillery and the noise that the shot and the shell made, made me feel cheap. The Greenbriar River was on a rampage and neither side could cross it. Our pickets had to hide in the woods to keep from being captured. Our next move was back to the summit of the Allegheny Mountains. For winter quarters, we were camped on the highest peak of the mountains where camp put in for the winter. On the 13th of December, the forces from Cheat Mountain came very near surrounding our camp in the night. At daylight, we were attacked and had a considerable battle which lasted until the afternoon. When the Union force was driven off and left us here, we lost some good men. In killed and wounded, we lost John Green and Thurmond Tinney, killed and several wounded. Capt. Mollohan of Webster County was killed here.

In the spring, we moved back to Buffalo Gap on the railroad. Camped a short time and moved back near Staunton. Early this spring, we were joined by forces of Stonewall Jackson, and then moved back and attacked the Union forces at McDowell. Here was one of the hottest engagements yet pulled off in this part of the Confederacy. We drove the Union forces under General Milroy down the South Branch to Franklin in Pendleton County. We turned back at Franklin and came back to the valley. Went down by way of Bridgewater to Harrisonburg, then the force divided one portion going down the Shenandoah, the other down at the Page Valley. At Front Royal, we routed the 1st Maryland Bucktails at Straussburg. The other force came upon the main Union force and we drove them to Winchester where Banks made a stand but when our forces all got up he was soon dislodged. And from here he was never let stop until he reached Harper's Ferry. At Winchester, we captured a large amount of supplies of camp equipment and a large amount of provisions. Just above Charles Town, we were about faced in the road and marched to Winchester. That night, I slept on two rails where the water was two or three inches deep. Out next morning at daylight and never halted until we reached Straussburg. When we left Valley Road and marched out the Pike toward Romney one and a half miles where we met Milroy and his forces endeavoring to cut us off at this point and it was a close call. Here we had a little brush with him and gave him a set back. We continued our march up the Valley, the Union forces following us up and every once in a while we had a brush to keep them back.

At Harrisonburg, there was a considerable fight. Gen. Ashby was killed here leading an Infantry Charge. The next day, we had a fight at Cross Keys. The next morning our forces crossed at the South Branch of the Shenandoah and when the last of our troops crossed over, the bridge was burned. Our forces then marched down the valley and attacked General Shields, taking all of his artillery and many prisoners. This ended the Campaign in the Valley for a time. In the evening, after the battle with Shields, our forces marched up the West side of the Blue Ridge and camped there for two of (sic) three days. Then, returning to the valley, went into camp near Weir's Cave, below Waynesboro, where we remained for a short time.

The next move was to break camp and head toward Richmond. We crossed the Blue Ridge near the Big Tunnel. I walked through the tunnel which is near a mile in length. I don't remember how many days we were on the road. It was said that the agent of the RR at Gordonsville asked Jackson if he wanted to get at Richmond. We were taken up by the trains and were hauled for some distance. The train returned and took up the hindmost troops.

We arrived in the vicinity of Richmond the evening of the 7 days battle opened and were under fire every day from that time until it closed. We camped around Richmond a short time and I left there on a train which brought us up the road next toward Gordonsville, to a river where Stoneman's Cavalry had burned the bridge. From there to Gordonsville, we walked the RR. We were at Gordonsville a short time and then the maneuvering for to get around John Pope, who said that he had never as yet got to see the face of a Rebel. This marching and countermarching was kept up for some time until the battle of Cedar Mountain was fought. After a short time, Jackson began maneuvering to get in Pope's rear and after so long a time, he succeeded and struck the RR at a station a short distance above Manassas Junction where we captured all sorts of army equipage, a large amount of provisions, all sorts and kinds of arms and ammunition, harness, and everything that goes to equip an army. Here Jackson had men behind him that he wanted and had begun to work around until he could form a junction with Lee and Longstreet which he soon accomplished. And then the general battle was on which lasted for two or three days and ended with victory for the Confederates. There we took up the march for Maryland by way of Leesburg, crossing the Potomac at Fallen Rock. Our next stop was at Frederick City. We were here a short time then we were off for Harper's Ferry. We crossed the Potomac at Williamsport and marched on for Harper's Ferry which was then surrounded on three sides and we closed the fourth side. The 3rd day after we reached (sic) the garrison surrendered with about 1100 men and a vast amount of arms and stores provisions etc. Then we were ordered to join Lee at Antietam. We recrossed the river at Shepherdstown and were in the battle I think on the 17th of Sept. 1862. We had to get back to the Virginia side and crossed at Shepherdstown moved around in the Valley and went into camp at Bunker Hill. Camped here for some time. Tore up the B&O RR for several miles burning and crooking the rails so they could not be used until sent to the shop and straightened. Our next move was to cross the Blue Ridge at some gap, I don't remember, where the object being to get to Fredericksburg. We went into camp somewhere in that vicinity until the 13 of December, when Gen. Burnside with his host crossed the Rapahannoc at that town and brought on a general engagement which proved disastrous for Mr. Burnside. We went into winter quarters in that county until about April. We (the 25th Va. Regt.) was sent to Buffalo Gap to join General Imboden and we took up the march through West Va. by way of Monterey, crossing the Allegheny and Cheat Mountains to Beverly by way of Buckhannon, Weston, Bulltown, Braxton C. and through Nicholas County, Greenbriar, Bath, and Augusta. By joining the Army of Northern Virginia, somewhere near Richmond, then General Jackson was wounded and died just after Chancellorsville.

Immediately after joining the Army of Northern Virginia, we recrossed the Blue Ridge and advanced on Winchester from the Front Royal road, driving Milroy from Winchester, we crossed the Potomac at Shepherdstown. We marched through Maryland into Pennsylvania, somewhere near Carlisle. We were ordered to join Early at Gettysburg, arriving at that place the first day of the engagement and remained throughout the siege. We were on the extreme left of the Confederate line. After this fight we recrossed the Potomac at Williamsport. We waded the river just at daybreak when it was up to my chin. I had to hold my head as high as I could in order to keep my mouth out of the water. After this fight, we were located somewhere near Orange I.C.H. and when the campaign opened in the spring of 1864 was captured on the 5th of May 1864 and was taken to Point Lookout where we were kept until August, then removed to Elmira, New York, where I remained until the close of the war. Was released from prison about the 15th of July, 1865.

Was out.

J.B. McLaughlin
Co "C" 25 Va Vol Inft
Confederate States of America

This is only an outline of my experiences in the Confederate Army.

When we were at Beverly, at the first of the war. We first had the old mountain rifle. Then, we turned them over and drew the old army musket which had been made for a flint lock afterward changed to the percussion lock. I do not know how much execution they done in front, but always coupled the one that done the firing. Our first supply of ammunition was one cartridge to each man. This was the old style ball and buckshot.

The Army of the Confederacy was poorly supplied the last two years for clothing and rations. They did not get anywhere near enough to eat or wear. The fare we had in the northern prisons was scant in the prison that it was held at the morning about 8 o'clock we went to the Cook House and our breakfast consisted of a slice of light bread and a very small piece of meat - sometimes a bone. In the evening, about 3 or 4 o'clock, we got a slice of bread and a tin plate of bean water - sometimes there would be a few beans in it. We were allowed one fire a day in the Barracks in the winter time. This one fire was out of anthracite coal and had to last 24 hours. When President Lincoln was killed at Washington, they fired stones out of the cannon they had around the prison into the prisoner's quarters. Fortunately, there was no one hurt.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Dear
Don and Jackie, grandchildren and great grandchildren, family members, friends,
honored guests, brothers and sisters in Christ, peace be with you!

When
someone lives a full life of nearly a century, there is much to reflect upon
regarding that person’s life and the profound impact they have had on the lives
of those around them. Our dear sister in Christ Bertha was born as the First
World War raged, the Model T was less than a decade old, and the first movie
with sound was still a decade away.

We
have mixed thoughts about saying goodbye to someone of such a long life and
influence. On the one hand, we know that death on this side of the grave is
inevitable, but on the other, very few people that we know ever knew a time
when Bertha was not yet born.

She
grew up in an era when motherhood was respected by society. She took her holy
vocation as wife and mother seriously. Her children always came first. And even
though she couldn’t drive, and for a time was unable to bring her children to
church, she purchased Lutheran Sunday School materials and taught her children
the holy faith from home.

We
Lutherans are taught to revere the saints. We love them and follow their
examples. Bertha is such a saint and a hero to those of us left on this side of
the veil.

But
there is also a temptation when someone lives such a long life, dear friends. And that temptation is to see death as
natural, as a kind of friend. And while we are grateful that Bertha did not
suffer, and while we are blessed to know that the last earthly meal she ate was
the Lord’s Supper – and how magnificent is that, dear friends? But we don’t
delude ourselves into thinking of death as anything other than it is: a tragic
consequence of sin and of the fall in the Garden of Eden. We mourn because of
death. Jesus wept for His friend Lazarus, even as He raised him from the dead.
We miss our loved ones, whether they die at seven or at ninety-seven.

Death
is not God’s will; it is painful; it is not our friend; it is not natural. And
yet, for us poor miserable sinners, it is inevitable.

And
this is why we are here, dear friends, in a church, a holy sanctuary where the
Word of God is proclaimed in the face of death, where the Gospel is proclaimed
in spite of the devil, and where the sacraments are administered unto the
forgiveness of sin. The old evil foe has no power in this place, dear friends!
This is where the altar, the font, and the pulpit sustain us and restore us to
the innocence we lost when our first parents ate unto their judgment. For here,
dear friends, we eat unto our salvation! Here, dear friends, in this very font,
the little baby Bertha was baptized and redeemed by her Savior. Her sins were
forgiven. She was redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ.

As
Job confessed, so Bertha confesses, and so we confess: “I know that my Redeemer
lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been
thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.

This
is the glorious news Bertha heard from the day of her baptism while soldiers
waged war on horseback in Europe, right up until the very end of her life on
this earth less than a week ago. And as we confessed it yet again in the creed:
“I believe in… the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.” We do
not believe as Pagans do in floating disembodied spirits or that people become
angels with wings. No, dear friends, we have the promise of the bodily
resurrection, just as surely as our blessed Lord called Lazarus out of his
grave, and just as surely as our Lord Himself walked out of His own tomb in the
flesh: “Yet in my flesh I shall see God.” We have a glorious reunion to look
forward to, dear brothers and sisters, with our human bodies made perfect,
bodies that will not wear out, bodies that will not die.

This
is how the author of the letter to the Hebrews can exhort us: “Since we are
surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every
weight, every sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the
race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our
faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

St.
Paul also compares the Christian life to a race. It is more of a marathon than
a sprint. And, dear friends, to those who endure, there is a crown, an
imperishable reward to those who cross the finish line signed by the cross,
washed by Holy Baptism, and covered with Christ’s atoning blood. For
ultimately, the prize is won for us by Jesus, our Redeemer, who indefatigably
defeated death and triumphantly won life for us, giving this crown to us by
grace, through faith, and by means of the Word declared to us.

Our
sister Bertha has completed the race. She has fought the good fight. Jesus has
triumphed for her. And not even the vile devil and his great weapon death have
any power over her, dear friends!

And
just as the scriptures teach us about another elderly saint, St. Simeon, the
faithful temple priest who held true to the promise of the Redeemer, who held
the Christ child in his arms, it was always my privilege to pray together with
Bertha after partaking of the Holy Sacrament together, Simeon’s song:

“Lord,
now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for
my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all
peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people
Israel.”

Blessed
Bertha’s life on this side of the grave has been completed in victory, dear
friends, because of this same Christ seen by the aged eyes of Simeon, partaken
sacramentally by Bertha for nearly a century, and confessed by her and by the
whole Christian Church on earth since the days of the apostles.

And
so we carry on in our walk with Christ, bridging the gap of our current century
to those whose lives we impact by our life and confession. Let us join our dear
sister in Christ in that great cloud of witnesses to the cross and resurrection
of our blessed Lord, to the Good News of eternal life that we have the
privilege to confess just as Bertha did for 97 years in Christ. And let us look
forward in joy, hope, peace, and expectation of the resurrection to come that
is ours in Christ Jesus.

“For
I know that my Redeemer lives,” now and even unto eternity. Amen.

In the name of the Father
and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In
the British comedy series “Bless Me, Father,” based on true life events in a
London church in 1950, the great actor Arthur Lowe portrays a wise and loveable
Irish pastor named Father Duddleswell.
In one episode, the church prepares for its annual bazaar, and the
pastor sets a nearly impossible fundraising goal of 600 pounds.

A terrific storm rages on the day of the bazaar, and it seems to be a total
disaster... until the check from the
insurance company comes in. For we learn
that Father Duddleswell always took out a policy in case of inclement
weather. In addition, it is revealed
that he has also put up a bet with the local bookie, at 20 to 1 odds, that it
would rain, thus making an additional $600 for the parish. The associate pastor and housekeeper are
scandalized. But of course, the pastor’s
wise planning turned a disaster into a grand success.

At
the end of the episode, Father Duddleswell, with a twinkle in his eye,
confesses to them, “Sometimes I think your parish priest has no faith at all.”

And
we are often like the disciples whom our Lord chided as having “little
faith.” We try to take the bull by the
horns. We plan and strategize. We look for angles. We apply the world’s ways to the kingdom of
God. Planning and looking for
opportunity is not wrong, dear friends, but how often we rely on our own
strength, instead of harmonizing with St. Paul, “I will boast of the things
that show my weakness” and taking to heart the Lord’s counsel: “My grace is
sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Indeed,
dear friends, the church just looks foolish and impotent in the eyes of the
world. We have no bombs, no armies, no
guns, no way to compel anyone to do anything.
We are despised by the world. We
are hated by dictators. We are mocked by
the media. We are scorned by the mighty.

And
yet, dear friends, the church has conquered the world. The Bible exists in every language. Churches flourish in the open on the very
sites of Stalin’s death camps and in vast numbers though in secret all across Communist
China. Christians like Asia Bibi confess
Christ in Pakistan even under sentence of death. Pastors like Saaed Abedini proclaim the
Gospel in dungeons in Iran. With nothing
more than the Word, confessors of Christ, mostly poor and despised, number in
the billions all over our planet.

Christians
have been subjected to beheading, the stake, the arena, and the gulag
camp. And yet the faith continues to
spread around the world. The church
grows. Christ is confessed as Christ
forgives and is present in His Word and sacraments. In the words of the ancient Latin hymn:
Christ conquers! Christ reigns! Christ rules!
All without a single weapon, not so much as a sling shot. It’s utterly miraculous.

This, dear friends, is all done by means of the Word. It is all accomplished by the confession that
Christ is Lord, by the Gospel proclamation of who Jesus is, what Jesus has
done, and what Jesus continues to do in our fallen, sin-sick world. The Word we proclaim is Christ crucified; the
Lamb and His saving blood; His victory over sin, death and the devil; and His glorious
resurrection. The Word we proclaim is
Holy Baptism, Holy Absolultion, and Holy Communion. The Word we proclaim is the Word Made
Flesh. And that mighty Word is implanted
into you, dear brothers and sisters, by means of what seems utterly ridiculous
in its weakness: by preaching.

Our
Lord compares the Word to a seed. A seed
is tiny. It lies dormant. It’s of no consequence in a world that
respects power, wealth, and might. But a
seed, dear friends, has more power than all the atomic bombs on the
planet. For within the seed is life
encoded in the DNA programmed by the Creator Himself. And in the seed of the preached Word is the
self-reproducing DNA of eternal life.

That,
dear friends, is what makes tyrants quake in their jackboots. This is what frightens dictators more than
anything. It is the power of love over
and against hate. It is the might of
forgiveness over and against sin. It is
the conquest of the cross over the concentration camp. Lenin is still rotting away for all the world
to see in a glass box, a maudlin relic of the failure of the enemies of the
cross. But our Lord Jesus Christ is
risen, and His tomb is a church, a living house of the proclamation of the Word
of the cross that frees men from imprisonment to the devil, the world, and our
sinful nature.

The sower sows; his
reckless love

Scatters abroad the goodly
seed,

Intent alone that all may
have

The wholesome loaves that
all men need.

In
his recklessness, the sower casts the seed everywhere. Some falls on the path and is trampled and
eaten by birds, snatched away by Satan.
Some falls on rocky ground, grows quickly and dies quickly, lacking
roots to draw in water. Some falls among
thorns, choked out by distractions. In
all three of these examples, the seed dies.
It never matures and bears fruit.
Its explosive creative power encoded in its DNA goes to waste for lack
of a receptive heart in which to prosper.

Our
Lord is giving us a stern warning, dear friends. For we are most certainly poor miserable
sinners. We are tempted to allow God’s
Word to die unproductive within us. We
do not resist Satan the way we ought, and the danger is that we “may not
believe and be saved.” We are tempted to
“fall away” in “time of testing” because we are not grounded in God’s Word,
choosing to devote huge amounts of time to other things that seem more
powerful, more important, more relevant in this modern age than a tiny seed,
than God’s Word, than that which seems so weak.
We are tempted by the “cares and riches and pleasure of life” – worldly
matters that take priority over and against the Word of God. And so we are choked by things which
ultimately are meaningless, while we do not mature, but instead allow the Word
to be strangled by the thorns of sin’s lasting legacy.

We
would be wise to listen to our Lord’s Word, dear friends. For as the prophet yet again preaches to us:
“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but
water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and
bread to the eater, so shall my Word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall
not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall
succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

And,
dear friends, the Word bears the promise, and it is deceptively mighty and
eternally powerful, much as the inconsequential-looking seed of the sower
contains the power of the Creator embedded therein. For when the seed falls on good soil, it
yields “a hundredfold.” As our Lord both
observes and promises: “those who, hearing the Word, hold it fast in an honest
and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.”

This
is how the Lord’s kingdom works, how the church triumphs over the world, how
Christ conquers, reigns, and rules in love, how against all odds and beyond all
imagination, slavery yields to liberty, fear yields to joy, war yields to
peace, hatred yields to love, sin yields to forgiveness, infirmity yields to
health, and mortality yields to immortality.

For
in spite of our “little faith,” even when it seems that we have no faith at
all, the Lord is in control. He is
imbedding the seed, dear brothers and sisters, with the most explosive power in
the universe: the power of the cross, the power of the Gospel, the power of
redemtion – even as the sower can only look upon the Lord’s work and say: “Ah,
what of that, Lord, what of that.”

Preach you the Word and
plant it home

And never faint; the
Harvest Lord

Who gave the sower seed to
sow

Will watch and tend His
planted Word.

Amen.

His

on
the sickness of sinto the next - and d w liars and sons of the devil, tament, a
bloodye people on In the name of the
Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Our
Lord’s parable is usually called something like “The Parable of the Laborers in
the Vineyard.” But it could also be named
something like: “The Parable of Entitlements.”

There
is a lot of talk about “entitlements” these days, as arguments over the
national budget and financial deficits come into conflict with the promises
made by governments and their agencies to the people. The word “entitlement” includes the word
“title.” Anyone who owns a house or a
car – or anyone who has ever played Monopoly – knows that to hold the title to
something means you have rights to that property.

If you hold the title to something, then something is owed to you, whether it
be rent or a payment or some kind of privilege of ownership. And if you make an agreement with someone,
whether to work for them for pay, or to pay them for work – both sides are
entitled to something. Workers are
entitled to wages. Bosses are entitled
to work.

And
so the workers in our Lord’s story feel entitled. They are not working for the boss out of the
kindness of their hearts. They are being
offered a wage, a contractual amount agreed upon before the job started.

Early
in the morning, about six a.m., the boss goes out in search of laborers. He hires some of them to work the vineyard,
and he offers them the standard pay of that time: 12 hours of work for a
denarius. The workers agree, and so a
contract is made. The boss is entitled
to a fair day’s labor; the workers are entitled to a fair day’s pay, in this
case, the specific amount of a denarius.

But
as the day goes on, the owner of the vineyard still needs more workers. About nine in the morning, he hires on
additional help, and he offers not a specific amount , but promises the wage
will be “right.” The workers agree, and
they take the job. The same thing
happens at noon, and at three p.m., as workers agree to a fair salary for their
six or their three hour work days.

At five p.m., the vineyard owner sees unemployed workers standing around. He offers them a job for an hour’s work. Whether he is offering these men a kind of
charity, or if he truly has more work to be done is not made clear. But the same conditions of a fair wage is
implied.

Six
p.m. is quitting time, and it is also payday.
The owner asks the foreman to pay the workers in reverse order. Those who worked a single hour received a
full day’s pay: a denarius. Hearing
this, those who worked the full 12-hour day expected to be paid much more than
they deserved. After all, wouldn’t it be
fair to get paid more than those who worked but a single hour? Especially as these men have “borne the
burden of the day and the scorching heat.”
And so, when they were also paid the denarius for which they agreed to
work, they grumbled.

The
owner replied: “Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a
denarius? Take what belongs to you and
go. I choose to give to this last worker
as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do
what I choose with what belongs to me?
Or do you begrudge my generosity?”
And Jesus, our storyteller and narrator concludes the tale and gives us
the moral of the story: “The last will be first, and the first last.”

“The
last will be first, and the first last.”

This flies in the face of how we view fairness.
Why shouldn’t the long-timers get more?
Why should the one-hour wonders get paid the same? But in determining fairness, dear friends, we
need to consider who is the owner, and what were the agreements that were made.

For
in God’s kingdom, we are in a very weak position to argue for
entitlements. Addressing the wages we
are due is not very wise, as St. Paul reveals to us that the wages of sin is
death. And so, what are you entitled to,
dear friend? What are we entitled to,
dear sinners? What does God owe us for
all that we have done? We most certainly
deserve God’s “temporal and eternal punishment.” And this means death in time and hell in
eternity. That is our rightful denarius
for a lifetime of our sinful works. That
is what we deserve, dear friends, our rightful wage, our just desserts, our
fair treatment by the Owner of the vineyard.
That is our entitlement.

And
yet we grumble against God. We expect to
be fawned over and rewarded. We compare
ourselves to others and judge ourselves worthy, not of death, but life; not of hell,
but of heaven. And we demand that God
pay us according to our perceived worth.
The children of Israel, who were freed from slavery by God Himself using
His servant Moses, grumbled against Moses again and again. On the occasion of our lesson, their
grumbling had to do with their thirst.
They wanted water, and they were ready to stone Moses because he was not
giving them what they wanted and when they wanted it. For we all know that the customer is always
right. And yet in spite of their
grumbling, the Lord did not reward them according to what they deserved. The Lord provided them with life-saving water
from the rock.

And
this is the good news, dear friends. We
may grumble with an entitlement mentality that we deserve to be treated better
in God’s kingdom. But given that our
works actually merit hell, given that the wages of our sin is death, the fact
that we are paid out of the divine treasury and rewarded and renumerated
according to the labor of our Lord Jesus Christ in the vineyard, taking the
wages He earned, wages of forgiveness, life, and salvation even as He was paid
our deserved wage of His passion and death – we have no cause to grumble, dear
friends. In fact, we have cause to
rejoice. We have no grounds to be angry
with God, dear brothers and sisters, but rather we have the privilege to praise
Him for all that He has done for us, including the promise of everlasting
life. Instead of griping that others are
shown undeserved mercy, we should thank God every moment of every day that we,
like the grumbling children of Israel, are baptized and deemed worthy to eat
spiritual food and drink spiritual drink.
For the rock from which the life-giving water flowed and flows, was and
is: Christ!

And
though we are entitled to death, our Lord does what He chooses with what is
His, which includes us. The Lord is
kind, gracious, and merciful: “the last will be first, and the first
last.” And rather than begrudge the
Lord’s generosity, we are grateful for His kindness in paying us not the wages
of sin, which is death, but rather giving us the free gift of God, which is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord!

And
this life of gratitude and praise takes discipline, dear friends. We are disciples, and so we discipline
ourselves. As Olympic athletes do not
run aimlessly, but train with their eyes on the prize, and just as martial
artists do not prepare by simply flailing their arms about, but demand their
bodies’ obedience to training, we Christians train ourselves spiritually, “lest
after preaching to others,” we ourselves “should be disqualified.”

Dear
friends, the Lord is gracious and merciful.
He does not pay us according to the wages we have earned by our sins,
but rather He is generous to us, paying us according to the wages our Lord has
earned by His blood shed on the cross.
We have been baptized not merely into Moses, but into Jesus, and we not
only eat and drink spiritual food and drink, but the physical body and blood of
our Lord Jesus Christ! For we who are
last have become first! We who deserve
death have been compensated with life.
We who are entitled to hell have been re-titled as heirs of the heavenly
kingdom of our generous Master who does not pay us “whatever is right” nor what
is fair, but rather what is gracious and merciful.

The
last are the first, and the first are the last.
Thanks be to God, now and even unto eternity! Amen.

His

on
the sickness of sinto the next - and d w liars and sons of the devil, tament, a
bloodye people on In the name of the
Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Sunday, February 09, 2014

As
we move along from the Christmas season to the Easter Season, we track along
from our Lord’s entrance into our world as a helpless baby in His mother’s
arms, through His visit from the magi and His teaching in the temple, through
His young adulthood and preparation for the ministry, His baptism and preaching
and gathering the apostles unto Himself.

Our
Lord has grown in stature and in wisdom, and He is revealing Himself to the
world, which He came to save, by various signs, revealing who He is and proving
what His mission is. All the while, He forgives
sins and rolls back the effects of sickness and death. He speaks not as one of the scribes or
Pharisees, but as one who has authority, one bearing the authority of God
Himself.

And
on this extraordinary day, Jesus brings His inner circle of Peter, James, and
John with Him on a “high mountain by themselves.” They know Jesus is like no-one else. Is He a prophet? Is He the Messiah? Is He the Son of the living God? And who testifies and verifies His
claims? Jesus is about to unmask
Himself, to lift the veil, to let the three in on the fullness of the mystery.

And
Jesus also takes off the gloves in His battle with Satan.

In
His holy transfiguration, in His metamorphosis, to use the Greek term, Jesus
shows what is normally hidden; Jesus manifests what is normally held in
reserve. Jesus opens the throttle for
just a few seconds. Jesus gives the
three a few moments of the dazzling power and glory that beams from His divine
nature, in the form of His face shining “like the sun” and His clothes becoming
“white as light.” For a short while, the
dazzling, brilliant beams of light radiate from the divine face of Jesus, that
same glow that reflected off of Moses’s face, the glory of God that so attracts
us and appalls us at the same time, drawing in the new man and repelling the
old Adam. And as Moses’s face shone with
the reflected glory of God, our Lord’s face shines eternally with uncreated
light, for He “is the light of the world, the light no darkness can overcome.”

And
what’s more, Jesus reveals something else.
Jesus makes a point to show that He is in communication, which is to
say, in communion, with Moses and Elijah, with the Law and the Prophets. He who is the Word speaks through the Law and
the Prophets, who in turn speak to testify of Him. And furthermore, lest anyone doubt the
veracity of this vision, God the Father Himself speaks intelligently and
miraculously to the bewildered disciples, testifying and claiming His Son, and
instructing the Church what we are to do with Jesus: “This is My beloved Son,
with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him.”

“Listen
to Him,” commands the Father, or more accurately, invites the Father. Our loving almighty God and Father invites us
into the heavenly realms with Peter, James, and John, inviting us to see Jesus
as He is, inviting us to be saved and transformed in our own right, by the
forgiveness of sins, through the blood of our Lord shed on the cross, through
the good news that He speaks to us. And
this is why our God and Father invites the apostles and all Christians to
“listen to Him.”

This is a gracious invitation, dear friends!
For Jesus has not come into the world to condemn, but to save. “Listen to Him.” Hear His Word! Pay close attention to His absolution. Partake of His gifts! Be cleansed through living in your baptism in
daily repentance. And listen to what has
been inspired and written in the Word of God.
“Listen to Him,” for your forgiveness, life, and salvation. “Listen to Him” to receive God’s mercy and
grace. “Listen to Him” to learn who He
is and what He has done for us poor miserable sinners.

Peter,
James, and John listened and watched. It
was more than they could handle. “They
fell on their faces and were terrified.”
For no mortal man living in the sinful flesh can handle very much of
this. They are not only looking at God
in the flesh, they are seeing God’s face in its unveiled glory.

And
even in the midst of this wonderful and yet terrifying manifestation of the
power and might of God the Son, our Lord shows His mercy. “Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Rise,
and have no fear.’ And when they lifted
up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.”

At
this point, Moses and Elijah have vanished from sight. The Father’s booming voice is again
silent. The blinding glow of the Lord’s
face and clothing have returned to their previous normalcy. Everything returns to its prior state, except
for Peter, James, and John. They have
been changed. They have been
transfigured. They have been
metamorphosized, even as Moses, centuries earlier, continued to reflect the
Lord’s light upon coming down the mountain.

Peter,
James, and John have been changed as they come down the mountain with
Jesus. They have seen and experienced
the Lord in His full majesty, in His infinite power, in His unbridled divine
magnificence. They now know just who
Jesus is. And what they saw and heard
will help them when their faith will be severely and sorely tested after the
coming crucifixion of the Transfigured One.

For
on the cross, they will see a different figure, a different form. Instead of a glowing face they will see a
dark and battered and bruised countenance.
Instead of beaming white clothing they will see bloodied skin. Instead of the conversation with the Law and
the Prophets, they will see the condemnation of the Law and the Prophets, a
condemnation earned by us and yet borne by Him.
Instead of the approving voice of the Father they will hear the
suffering Son cry out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?”

God
was merciful to allow the three leaders of the holy apostles to witness this
transfiguration, and to cause the Holy Spirit to record its account for us to
read and hear. “Listen to Him,” the
Spirit bids us today. Listen to this
testimony and manifestation of Jesus, who is almighty God, who lays aside His
glory for the shame of the cross, who receives death so that we might be
transfigured and metamorphosized from sinners into saints, from the dead into
the living, from those bound by time to those dwelling in eternity!

And
we can listen to Him in His Word, for as one of those witnesses, St. Peter,
teaches us: “We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you
the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His
majesty.” Indeed, Peter was one who
heard the voice “borne to Him by the Majestic Glory,” saying, “This is My
beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Peter testifies, “We ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven,
for we were with Him on the holy mountain.”

And
like St. Peter, we too “have the prophetic Word more fully confirmed, to which
you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until
the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

We
have the Word of the Law and the Prophets, the Word of the Gospel and the
forgiveness of sins. We have the Word of
God, for Jesus is the very Word Himself, revealed on the mountain to Peter,
James, John, and to us.

“Listen to Him!” Amen.

His

on
the sickness of sinto the next - and d w liars and sons of the devil, tament, a
bloodye people on In the name of the
Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Sunday, February 02, 2014

Most
of our great literature deals with heroes and villains. In fact, most of the great stories in the
world follow the theme of redemption.
The basic story goes like this: the world (or the planet or the land or
the city or the village) is messed up. Evil
is having its way with good. But there
is a promise of a future savior. Time
goes by. And then the hero comes, defeats
the villain, restores things the way they should be, redeems the bad and turns
it to good. This redeemer is also a
savior, who risks (or even loses) his own life to save those whom he loves.

Sound
familiar?

Art
imitates life, dear friends. In most of
the great novels and movies of our time there is a redemption theme. We see it in the 1912 science fiction story John
Carter (whose hero saves the people, and has a resurrection experience, and
whose initials are J.C.). And in the story
of Superman, who comes to earth to fight against evil, to be a savior,
and yet who is a real man with two natures (a superheroic nature and an
ordinary, Clark Kent nature). And in such
diverse films as The Matrix, in which an ancient prophesy comes true in
the form of a man who redeems the world from captivity to evil, and in the yet
to be released The Lego Movie, in which an ordinary guy manages to be
the prophesied hero and savior, who defeats evil and saves the world. Indeed, we know this narrative well.

The
great Christian authors Tolkien and Lewis believed that the human condition
plagued by sin, death, and the devil, and the promise of a Savior, are themes that
are so imbedded into our human nature, that even pagan stories and myths
reflect this universal human cry to be rescued and redeemed. The world is crying out for a Savior. And, dear friends, we know who He is. He is here with us today. It is our commission and privilege to confess
this Savior and make Him known to a dark world that is desperate for a glimmer
of hope, a dying world that yearns to be made alive, a world of evil run amok
that so wants the earth to be a Paradise Restored.

Jesus
of Nazareth, the Christ, is this Savior and Redeemer. He came into our world from afar, the Son of
God and the Son of Mary, a man who appears to the eye like any other man, and
yet a Man who is the incarnate Word of God.
He came to die so that we might live, and He came to rise again so that
we might be victorious over death and the grave. He took our sins to the cross that we might
be forgiven. He suffered His body to be
crucified and His blood to be shed so that we might partake in the mystical
communion of His Eucharist.

Through
Him, all people are offered the gift of redemption, of salvation, even as He has
come to destroy Satan and to rid the universe of every vestige of evil.

As
was prophesied in the Old Testament, Jesus came into our world as a child, born
of a virgin, “holy to the Lord” as being the first to open His mother’s
womb. And He, though the King of the
universe, came to an impoverished mother and step-father, so poor that they
could not afford the customary lamb to sacrifice as a substitutionary offering
for their firstborn son. And so they
offered the “turtledoves or pigeons” as the Law permitted. But look at the beauty of this offering, dear
friends. How often we skip over such
parts of Scripture. For there was no
need to offer the lamb to fulfill the Law, for the Lamb was there – the “Lamb
of God that takest away the sin of the world.”
While the doves died as a substitute for Him, the Lamb was to die as the
substitute for all creation! While the
sacrifices of the Old Testament had to die in the place of sinners as a preview
of the coming Messiah, Jesus is that Messiah who dies in the place of sinners
once and for all. And in opening Mary’s
womb, He opened Mary’s path to heaven, to redemption, and opens the tombs of
all believers.

Jesus
fulfills, completes, and brings to a fitting conclusion every prophecy and hint
from the Old Testament. He is the new
and greater Samuel, offered to the Lord in the temple as a boy, destined for a
priesthood that would save the people from their sins.

Jesus
fulfills not only the prophets and the prophecies, He also fulfills the Law,
keeping it even as He was killed by those who broke the law and disregarded the
prophets.

For
this, dear friends, is what we commemorate today: the presentation of our Lord
and the purification of Mary. The Lord
has been presented at the temple, the Lord, the fulfillment of the law and the
prophets, the Temple not built with stone but made incarnate with flesh, the
Redeemer and Savior whose Word remakes the world and whose body and blood are
given as a mystical gift traversing space and time to deliver forgiveness,
life, and salvation unto us! For just as
the Blessed Virgin Mary was purified by the first One who emerged alive from her
womb, all of mankind is purified by this One who emerged alive from the
tomb. Just as Blessed Mary sings to Him
who is her Savior, so do we sing praise to the God of Israel, He who lets us,
His servants, depart in peace, according to His Word, for He is the Word.

And,
dear friends, our eyes have seen His salvation, for He is our salvation,
manifesting His presence among all peoples, a light for revelation to all
nations, and the glory of His people Israel, the Church, His beloved bride,
those to whom He has come to heroically save and redeem.

As
the author of Hebrews spells out clearly for us, this is not just a redemption
story, but it is the redemption narrative, the true story of the
salvation of the world by a hero, the destruction of evil by His sacrificial
atonement, the heroic and epic historic account of the triumph of good over
evil, of love over hate, and of the restoration of the goodness of
Paradise.

“Since
therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of
the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power
of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death
were subject to lifelong slavery….
Therefore He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, so that
He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to
make propitiation for the sins of the people.”

Jesus
has been presented. Mary has been
purified. Mankind has been saved. The world has been redeemed. This is our story, our true, historic
narrative. Jesus is the realization of
the hopes and dreams and aspirations of every man who ever put pen to paper, of
every person who has hoped for a better world, of every soul tormented by sin
and guilt, and of every created being of every species and kind that groans
under the old order crying out for redemption.

Jesus
is our Savior! Jesus is our Redeemer!
Amen.

His

on
the sickness of sinto the next - and d w liars and sons of the devil, tament, a
bloodye people on In the name of the
Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

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Why Father Hollywood?

While serving in a previous ministerial call, I had to moonlight at the local Hollywood Video to pay for health insurance for the family. It took one of my coworkers a couple weeks before she stopped addressing me as "Father" and started using my first name.
It was a fun job. My co-workers were the best. I got free rentals too. You can click here to see a picture. Now you know the rest of the story...